The present invention relates to a method for managing lockers remotely, both in quantitative implementation and in maintenance and control.
Lockers have been widely used for years in schools, gyms, airports, train and bus stations, sports and cultural clubs and associations for convenience, security and health reasons.
Studies all over the world by all kinds of experts show that people should not carry loads over 10% of their body weight. The hazard is more evident and dramatic for teenagers at growth age. They are the ones currently carrying the heaviest loads while they are still building their bodies, which may cause irreversible damages to their vertebral spine.
That is why the use of storage lockers, or cabinets, is quite common in schools enabling students to store their textbooks and personal belongings, thus avoiding losses and rationalizing the daily carrying of study materials, since the students will only carry home the books and materials needed for their daily tasks.
However, the traditional and current way of managing school lockers is dominated by labor-intensive manual processes that are difficult to control, and subject to error and even fraud. The complexity of the operations increases when there is a need to deal with multiple schools in multiple locations at the same time.
In order to cope with the demand and service the principals and students appropriately, the school or third-party locker administrator typically must assign an employee or hire at least one temporary worker per location to perform the managerial tasks manually. In addition, there is usually a need to have at least one supervisor per location in order to establish some kind of servicing pattern.
Locker management has always been considered a hassle for those who make the space available and a source of complaint among those using the services, either in rental, free lease or purchase agreements.
The current procedure is carried out as follows: First, if there is no pre-installed locker, the principal determines the number and the installation sites of the lockers and orders them to the manufacturer for prompt delivery. Then, the principal determines the locker assignment criteria among the students and manually decides and controls who will be assigned to each locker. The students receive the combination or the key in their classrooms or at a designated place, and sign on the control spreadsheet.
Obviously, excessive time is dedicated to this procedure, which is then delegated to a subordinate. The tricky part is that such an easy procedure can become chaotic if one loses control, and it is still susceptible to error.
Once the keys or combinations are delivered, the control spreadsheet has to be well managed. All these steps represent labor-intensive activities. Furthermore, in the traditional approach, students cannot choose their lockers and most of the activities are concentrated on the fist days of classes, which is a critical time of the school year.